What Led Actor David Oyelowo to Play 'Captive'

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The real life story that began with a violent crime and ended with the Purpose Driven Life hits theaters Friday, Sept. 18, 2015.

It follows Ashley Smith, the Georgia woman taken hostage by Brian Nichols, an escaped prisoner on a killing spree. Nichols is serving multiple life sentences for escaping custody and murdering four people in a Georgia courthouse in 2005.

Taken by the Script

Award-winning actor David Oyelowo, who plays the killer, said his Christian faith led him to this role.

"I truly believe the film is about the fact that in God, no one is beyond redemption," Oyelowo told CBN News.

Plugged-In Director Bob Waliszewski offers his take on the new film "Captive" below:

Oyelowo said he wanted to be a part of the film before he even finished the script. He was taken with Smith's character.

"You are reading on the page that she was a meth addict," Oyelowo said. "She had lost custody of her daughter, her husband had died in a drug related incident. This woman's life was on a downward spiral."

"How is it that this dark, dark event in her life, inspired her onto a life of purpose, a life of faith, a life beyond which the blessings she has now receiving in her life are spilling beyond her," he said.

"Captive" is based on Smith's book Unlikely Angel. Actress Kate Mara portrays Smith in the film.

Nichols held Smith hostage in her apartment for seven hours after his escape.

Smith is now a happily married mother who still shares her story of survival, of how she read The Purpose Driven Life and the Bible to Nichols as he held her hostage.

"I definitely thought I was going to die," Smith said. "And at that point in my life I thought it was something that I deserved. My life had been so up and down and I had reached out to God for help, and when he began to help me I would push him away."

Not Beyond God's Grace

As a Christian, Oyelowo admitted he was apprehensive about playing a murderer. Still, he approached the role with the same passion that drove him to play Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in "Selma."

"One of the most interesting encounter I had over the course of making this film is with Brian Nichols's mother. And she says she still can't believe this is her life, still can't believe that was her son, which hints at the fact that he was brought up in a way that suggests that he would not do something like this," Oyelowo explained.

"I can't speak to whether it was to do with Brian Nichols' upbringing, but I know that as his mother herself said, something in him snapped," he said.

Oyelowo also feels "Captive" demonstrated that it is not possible to fall below God's grace.

"For me personally, I think there is the possibility of redemption for Brian Nichols because at the end of the day, there is no getting away from the fact that he killed four people that day," Oyelowo said. "There are lives that are broken by that fact and still remain in great pain over it."

"But something happened when he encountered Ashley Smith. He was stopped in his track I believe by the humanity she demonstrated to him. And she should have been his fifth victim is probably how that day was going to go and probably, he was going to be the sixth," he said.